By CINDY STAUFFER
Andy and Paula Blackburn had not been to a movie theater for more than 10 years
The Manheim Township couple are both deaf and have been to the movies only a handful of times in their entire lives, and only when a local theater featured a special version of a movie that projected captions onto the screen.
But the Blackburns recently watched "World War Z" at Regal Cinemas in Lancaster to try out special glasses that project the captions onto the inside of the glasses' lenses.
Over the past year, Regal began making the glasses available for free to patrons in about 400 theaters, including the local one. It's the only local theater to offer the glasses, which can be worn over prescription glasses.
The Millersville Pike theater has eight pairs of the glasses, which allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to attend any movie they like instead of waiting for a special presentation of a captioned movie.
The theater chain also offers headsets and receivers that play descriptive audio tracks of a movie for those who are blind or vision-impaired.
The Blackburns, along with other deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Lancaster County, have been trying out the captioned glasses, with mixed reactions, over the past few months. They provided their assessments via emails.
Grace Shirk-Emmons, of East Petersburg, said she likes that the glasses allow her to attend a movie whenever she wants, and not to have to wait until a theater decides to host a captioned movie.
"Too often the movies they choose are 'family friendly,' " she said. "I love fast, action-packed movies. This really gives us the freedom to go whenever we feel like."
Lisa Ciccarelli of Strasburg recently used the glasses to watch "The Great Gatsby" at Regal.
"This is the first time I could understand a movie with my family," she said.
She said she liked the fact that the captioning also included the movie's narrated portions, so she could follow the plot. Andy Blackburn, a part-time staff photographer with Lancaster Newspapers, liked that it included captions for noises as well, such as creaking, footsteps and laughter "because it helped me understand what is going on in the background."
But everyone interviewed said the glasses are cumbersome and have some technical drawbacks.
"It was difficult to read the closed captions and watch the movie at the same time," Paula Blackburn said.
Said her husband, "If I choose to go to the movies again, it will take some time for me to get used to this device."
The glasses have oversized, clear lenses. The captions are projected in bright green, using holographic technology, onto the lower part of the lens, via a wireless receiver the user wears on a lanyard around the neck.
You can adjust the lenses, tilting them to alter the angle of them to your face. You also can adjust the size and brightness of the captioning, which is available in six languages.
However, the glasses make the captions seem very close to your eyes, Paula Blackburn said.
As a result, your eyes have to switch back and forth from the captions to the action on the screen. Captions are easier to read when they are projected directly onto the screen, making them on the same visual field as the movie, the users said.
"I had trouble with trying to make an adjustment on the visual distance between my eyes and the lenses of the glasses," Andy Blackburn said, adding that he found the captions distorted and hard to read.
Everyone interviewed said the glasses, which weigh about 3 ounces, felt heavy as well, which made them uncomfortable to wear for a long period of time.
"I am hoping that someone could come up with a better idea and make them weigh less," Shirk-Emmons said, "or that I could own a pair and go to any movies anywhere and be able to see captions."
The Blackburns and Ciccarelli said they prefer movies that are captioned on the screen.
Ciccarelli said she wishes that all movies were captioned this way.
"We just want equal access to attend movies when we want," Ciccarelli said, "and not be limited to these time frames for us on certain days of the week, or to wear cumbersome glasses.
"It just seems unfair."
Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/883807_Deaf--hard-of-hearing-moviegoers-can-now-see-what-they-re-missing-with-captioning-glasses.html#ixzz2coQhJSnw
Staff Writer , Lancaster Newspaper
cstauffer@lnpnews.com
cstauffer@lnpnews.com
Andy and Paula Blackburn had not been to a movie theater for more than 10 yearsThe Manheim Township couple are both deaf and have been to the movies only a handful of times in their entire lives, and only when a local theater featured a special version of a movie that projected captions onto the screen.
But the Blackburns recently watched "World War Z" at Regal Cinemas in Lancaster to try out special glasses that project the captions onto the inside of the glasses' lenses.
Over the past year, Regal began making the glasses available for free to patrons in about 400 theaters, including the local one. It's the only local theater to offer the glasses, which can be worn over prescription glasses.
The Millersville Pike theater has eight pairs of the glasses, which allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to attend any movie they like instead of waiting for a special presentation of a captioned movie.
The theater chain also offers headsets and receivers that play descriptive audio tracks of a movie for those who are blind or vision-impaired.
The Blackburns, along with other deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Lancaster County, have been trying out the captioned glasses, with mixed reactions, over the past few months. They provided their assessments via emails.
Grace Shirk-Emmons, of East Petersburg, said she likes that the glasses allow her to attend a movie whenever she wants, and not to have to wait until a theater decides to host a captioned movie.
"Too often the movies they choose are 'family friendly,' " she said. "I love fast, action-packed movies. This really gives us the freedom to go whenever we feel like."
Lisa Ciccarelli of Strasburg recently used the glasses to watch "The Great Gatsby" at Regal.
"This is the first time I could understand a movie with my family," she said.
She said she liked the fact that the captioning also included the movie's narrated portions, so she could follow the plot. Andy Blackburn, a part-time staff photographer with Lancaster Newspapers, liked that it included captions for noises as well, such as creaking, footsteps and laughter "because it helped me understand what is going on in the background."
But everyone interviewed said the glasses are cumbersome and have some technical drawbacks.
"It was difficult to read the closed captions and watch the movie at the same time," Paula Blackburn said.
Said her husband, "If I choose to go to the movies again, it will take some time for me to get used to this device."
The glasses have oversized, clear lenses. The captions are projected in bright green, using holographic technology, onto the lower part of the lens, via a wireless receiver the user wears on a lanyard around the neck.
You can adjust the lenses, tilting them to alter the angle of them to your face. You also can adjust the size and brightness of the captioning, which is available in six languages.
However, the glasses make the captions seem very close to your eyes, Paula Blackburn said.
As a result, your eyes have to switch back and forth from the captions to the action on the screen. Captions are easier to read when they are projected directly onto the screen, making them on the same visual field as the movie, the users said.
"I had trouble with trying to make an adjustment on the visual distance between my eyes and the lenses of the glasses," Andy Blackburn said, adding that he found the captions distorted and hard to read.
Everyone interviewed said the glasses, which weigh about 3 ounces, felt heavy as well, which made them uncomfortable to wear for a long period of time.
"I am hoping that someone could come up with a better idea and make them weigh less," Shirk-Emmons said, "or that I could own a pair and go to any movies anywhere and be able to see captions."
The Blackburns and Ciccarelli said they prefer movies that are captioned on the screen.
Ciccarelli said she wishes that all movies were captioned this way.
"We just want equal access to attend movies when we want," Ciccarelli said, "and not be limited to these time frames for us on certain days of the week, or to wear cumbersome glasses.
"It just seems unfair."
Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/883807_Deaf--hard-of-hearing-moviegoers-can-now-see-what-they-re-missing-with-captioning-glasses.html#ixzz2coQhJSnw
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